Cleaning composition

ABSTRACT

THE INVENTION DISCLOSED IS DIRECTED TO A HEAVY DUTY CLEANING COMPOSITION WHICH INCLUDES AN ALKALI METAL HYDROXIDE, A HYDROXYCARBOXYLIC ACID AND SALTS THEREOF, AN ALKALI METAL CARBONATE, AN ALKALI METAL SILICATE, A HIGHER FATTY ACID SULFONATE AND SALTS THEREOF, A POLYETHOXYLATED FATTY ACID MONO-LOWER ALKANOL AMIDE, AN ALKALI METAL SOAP, AND OPTIONALLY AN ANTICAKING AGENT. THE PRESENT HEAVY DUTY CLEANING COMPOSITION PROVIDES IMPROVED MEANS FOR REMOVING GREASE, OIL AND PARTICULATE MATTER FROM SOILED MACHINERY.

United States Patent 3,583,923 CLEANING COMPOSITION 'Clilford M. Cantrell, Jr., Irving, Tex., and Roy B. Lance, Cincinnati, Ohio, assignors to W. R. Grace & Co., New York, N.Y. No Drawing. Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 707,290, Feb. 21, 1968. This application May 26, 1970,

Ser. No. 40,710

Int. Cl. C11d 7/06, 9/12, 9/46 US. Cl. 252-110 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present application for United States Letters Patent is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 707,290. filed Feb. 21, 1968, and now abandoned.

This invention relates to a heavy duty cleaning composition useful for removing grease, oil and particulate matter from soiled machinery. More particularly, the present invention provides a cleaning composition formed of components which include a synergistic combination of a higher fatty acid sulfonate, a polyethoxylated fatty acid mono-lower alkanol amide, and an alkali metal soap.

Highly alkaline compositions have been known to the art for removing soils containing grease, oils and particulate matter from machinery. Generally, the cleaning effectiveness of these prior art compositions has been limited with mechanical scrubbing often required to clean the machinery. -It has'now been found, by practice of the present invention that a heavy duty cleaning composition is provided which more effectively cleans soiled machinery. The present composition provides a means for cleaning articles of machinery without more often requiring mechanical scrubbing, scouring or the like.

Generally stated, the present invention provides a heavy duty cleaning composition which includes from about 35 to about 50 parts by Weight of an alkali metal hydroxide;

from about to about 15 parts by weight of a hydroxy carboxylic acid and the sodium and potassium salts thereof, from about 15 to about 25 parts by Weight of an alkali metal carbonate; from about 10- to about 20 parts by weight of an alkali metal silicate; from about 1 to about 5 parts by Weight of a higher fatty acid sulfonate and the sodium, potassium and ammonium salts thereof; from about 2 to about 10 parts by weight of a polyethoxylated fatty acid mono-lower alkanol amide; from about 5 to about parts by weight of an alkali metal soap; and from 0 to about parts by weight of an anticaking agent.

The present heavy duty cleaning composition is effective for cleaning heavily soiled surfaces when disposed in an amount from about 4 to about 14 percent by Weight in water.

One component of the present composition is an alkali metal hydroxide such as sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, and mixtures thereof. The preferred alkali metal hydroxide is sodium hydroxide. The alkali metal hydroxide is present in an amount from about 35 to about 50 parts by weight, and preferably from about 40 to about 42 parts by weight.

A second component of the present .composition is a "ice hydroxycarboxylic acid and the sodium and potassium salts thereof. The hydroxycarboxylic acid usefully employed herein include lactic acid, citric acid, tartaric acid, gluconic acid, arabonic acid, galactonic acid, 2-ketogluconic acid, saccharic acid, mucic acid, and glucoheptonic acid. Mixtures of two or more of these acids as Well as the sodium or potassium salts are also suitable in the compositions of this invention. The preferred hydroxycarboxylic acid salt is sodium gluconate. The hydroxycarboxylic acid component is present in an amount from about 5 to about 15 parts by weight, and preferably from about 8 to about 10 parts by weight.

A third component of the present composition is an alkali metal carbonate such as sodium carbonate, potassium carbonate, and mixtures thereof. The preferred alkali metal carbonate is sodium carbonate. The alkali metal carbonate is present in an amount from about 15 to about 25 parts by weight, and preferably from about 19 to about 21 parts by Weight.

A fourth component of the present composition is an alkali metal silicate such as water soluble sodium or potassium silicate, or a mixture thereof. The preferred alkali metal silicate is sodium metasilicate. The alkali metal silicate is present in the composition in an amount from about 10 to about 20 parts by weight, and preferably from about 12 to about 14 parts by weight.

A fifth component of the present composition is a higher fatty acid sulfonate such as any carboxylic acid sulfonate having from about 8 to about 24 carbons in the fatty acid group. Examples of useful fatty acid sulfonates include oleic acid sulfonate, linoleic acid sulfonate, stearic acid sulfonate, licanic acid sulfonate and palmitoleic sulfonate. Both the free acids and the sodium, potassium and ammonium salts thereof may be used. The preferred fatty acid sulfonate is the sodium salt of oleic acid sulfonate. The higher fatty acid sulfonate is present in an amount from about 1 to about 5 parts by weight, and preferably from about 1 to about 3 parts by Weight.

Another component of the present composition is a polyethoxylated fatty acid mono-lower alkanol amide wherein from about 5 to about 20 ethoxy groups appear, with the lower alkanol group having from 1 to 3 carbon atoms and the fatty acid group having from about 8 to about 24 carbon atoms. Examples of polyethoxylated fatty acid mono-lower alkanol amides include polyethoxylated capric monomethanolamide, polyethoxylated myristic monoethanolamide, polyethoxylated palrnitic monopropanolamide, polyethoxylated stearic monoethanolamide, and the like. The preferred polyethoxylated fatty acid mono-lower alkanol amide is polyethoxylated lauric monomethanolamide The polyethoxylated component is present in an amount from about 2 to about 10 parts by weight, and preferably from about 4 to about 6 parts by weight.

Another component of the present composition is alkali metal soap. The alkali metal soap component of the present composition may be either the sodium or fpotassium salts of fat acids having from 10 to 18 carbon atoms. If the carbon atoms forming a hydrocarbon chain of the alkali metal salt is less than 10 carbon atoms, it does not effectively cause emulsification of oil whereas if more than 18 carbon atoms are present, the salt is too insoluble in water to form a sufficiently concentrated colloidal solution. Generally, the alkali met-a1 soap is formed of either naturally occurring or synthetically prepared fats and oils typically used in soapmaking. These fats and oils are generally triglycerides having three fatty acid groups randomly esterified with glycerol. Each fat contains a number of long fatty acid molecules with an even number of carbon atoms ranging generally from C to C Within this group may be found for example capric acid, lauric acid, myristic acid, palmitic acid and stearic acid. For reasons of economics of price and availability, the fats and oils suitable for preparing soap include tallow, coconut oil, palm oil and the like. Rosin acid salts having detergent properties which are often incorporated in laundry soaps may also prove useful.

Accordingly, the alkali metal soap component usefully employed herein is one consisting largely of sodium or potassium salts of oleate, myristic, palmtiate and stearate. The alkali metal soap component is present in an amount from about 5 to about 15 parts by weight, and preferably from about 9 to about 11 parts by weight.

An optional component in the present composition is an anticaking agent such as calcium silicate, finely divided silica gel, and the like. This component is added in an amount from to about 20 parts by weight, and preferably from about 0.5 to about 10 parts by weight to the composition to prevent caking during storage.

A preferred composition of the present invention is as follows:

Component: Parts by weight Sodium hydroxide 40 to 42 Sodium gluconate 8 to 10 Sodium carbonate 19 to 21 Sodium metasilicate 12 to 14 Sodium salt of oleic acid sulfonate 1 to 3 Poly (5 ethoxylated lauric monoethanolamide 4 to 6 Sodium salt of tall oil fatty acid 9 to 11 Calcium silicate 0.5 to

The present composition may be mixed with water to form an aqueous solution concentrate for feeding into cleaning baths. Solution concentrates containing from about 1 and preferably about 4 to about ounces of the composition of this invention per gallon of water are found particularly suitable.

The present composition may be used for cleaning articles of machinery having soiled surfaces by contacting the soiled surface with a dilute aqueous solution containing the composition of this invention and thereafter rinsing the surface with Water. Suitably, the article may be soaked in an aqueous solution of the composition at a temperature of from about 180 F. to 212 F. Preferably, the aqueous solution contains from about 0.1 to about 6 percent by weight of the present composition.

The composition of this invention has a rapid solubility, moderate foam, ready rinsibility and long tank life. Due to the synergistic effect developed by the particular combination of detergent components, the present composition exhibits superior detergency and eifectively removes dirt and grime from machine and engine surfaces.

The present composition may be used effectively to rapidly remove numerous soils, including many of those soils which are ordinarily diificult to remove by known compositions, even when extensive contact time, mechanical scrubbing and other inconvenient methods are used. Examples of difiicult to remove soils which may be readily removed by the present composition include shop soils, drawing and stamping oils, rust inhibiting oils, motor oils, greases, particulate matter, oil residues and the like commonly found on internal and external portions of internal combustion engines.

This invention is further illustrated by the following non-limiting examples.

EXAMPLE 1 A composition was prepared by mixing 41.00 parts of sodium hydroxide; 19.25 parts of sodium carbonate; 10.00 parts of sodium metasilicate; 9.00 parts of sodium gluconate; 10.00 parts of sodium Dresinate (trade name for a mixture of sodium salts of tall oil fatty acids by Hercules Co.; 5 parts of Amidox C2 (trademark for a polyethoxylated coconut fatty acid monoethanol amide having 2 ethoxy groups by Stepan Chemical Co.); 200 parts 4 of sodium salt of oleic acid sulfonate; and 0.75 part of calcium silicate.

EXAMPLE 2 Example 1 was repeated except that the Amidox C2 polyethoxylated coconut fatty acid mono-ethanol amide of Example 1 was replaced by an equal weight of Amidox G5, a substantially identical compound except having 5 ethoxy groups.

EXAMPLE 3 EXAMPLE 4 Example 1 was repeated except that Amidox C2 was replaced by an equal weight of a substantially identical compound except having 20 ethoxy groups. 1

EXAMPLE 5 A series of approximately 6 weight percent, aqueous solutions were prepared by mixing 0.5 pound of samples of the compositions of Examples l-4 per gallon of water. The solutions were placed in baths and heated to 190 F. Next, articles of machinery heavily soiled with grease and oil were soaked in the baths for an equal amount of time under corresponding conditions. Thereafter, the soaked articles were removed, inspected, rinsed with water and again inspected. The inspections indicated that the articles treated with the sample of Example 1 having polyethoxylated fatty acid mono-ethanol amide with 2 ethoxy groups were marginally cleaned. Excellent cleaning was observed using the solution containing the compound having 5 ethoxy groups (Example 2) while cleaning ability for the solution containing the compounds having 10 (Example 3) and 20 (Example 4) ethoxy groups were rated slightly thereunder, in corresponding order.

EXAMPLE 6 Four compositions were formulated using the following components in the parts by weight indicated:

Samples Component A B C D Sodium hydroxide 41. 00 41. 00 41. 00 41. 00 Sodium carbonate 19. 25 19. 25 19. 25 19. 26 Sodium metasilicate 10. 00 10. 00 10. 00 10. 00 Sodium gluconate. 9. 00 9. 00 9. 00 9. 00 Sodium Dresinate 10. 00 14. 2O 11. 3 Poly (5) ethoxylated iaurie acid mono-ethanol amide 5. 00 12. 15 5; 7 Sodium oleic acid sulfonate 2. 00 4. 85 2. Calcium silicate 75 75 75 75 It is noted that Sample A above is an embodiment composition of the present invention. Samples A to D include 17 parts of two or more of the detergent components of sodium Dresinate, penta-ethoxylated fatty acid monoethanol amide (Amidox C5) and sodium oleic acid sulfonate. It is also noted that the weight ratio between any two of the detergent components present in Samples B, C and D is essentially identical to the weight ratio between the same detergent components in embodiment Sample A (i.e. 5:1 for sodium Dresinate to sodium oleic acid sulfonate, 2:1 for sodium Dresinate to poly(5) ethoxylated fatty acid monoethanol amide, etc.).

Samples A, B, C and D were tested for cleaning ability following the cleaning procedure of Example 5. The first test was repeated three times for a total of four tests. All tests were conducted under substantially identical conditions.

The results of the four tests are shown in Table A. (The samples of each composition were rated from 1 to 4 according to observed ability to clean; with number 1 signifying the most effective cleaning composition to numeral 4 representing the least effective.)

Test results of samples Test stage A B C D Test No.:

1 {After soaking 1 3 2 4 Aiterrinsing 1 3 2 4 2 {After soaking 1 3 2 4 After rinsing 1 3 2 4 3 {After soaking 1 3 2 4 After rinsing 1 3 2 4 4 {After soaking. 1 3 2 4 After rinsing 1 3 2 4 All four tests showed Sample A to be the best cleaner, both before and after rinsing. This testing demonstrates the synergistic action of the combination of detergent components of the present composition since whenever one of the detergents was omitted, the cleaning ability decreased.

EXAMPLE 7 The composition of Example 2 was diluted to 3 weight percent in water. The resulting dilute solution was used, following the cleaning procedure of Example to clean a common internal combustion engine fouled externally with heavy grease deposits and internally with -a substantial residue of particulate matter, gasoline combustion products, motor oil and the like. Superior cleaning was effected in less time than usually is observed for conventional cleaning methods.

EXAMPLE 8 Example 7 was repeated except an aqueous solution containing 0.1 weight percent of the Example 2 composition was used to clean metal working dies and presses fouled with drawing and stamping oils. Excellent cleaning of the surfaces resulted.

EXAMPLE 9 EXAMPLE 10 The procedure of Examples 3 and 5 were repeated except using, in sequence to prepare a series of formulations, the sodium salt of a member of the group consisting of linoleic acid sulfonate, stearic acid sulfonate, 1icanic acid sulfonate and palmitoleic acid sulfonate in place of the sodium salt of oleic acid sulfonate. Although cleaning effectiveness was not as good as when the oleic acid component was employed, nevertheless corresponding cleaning results were noted which evidenced synergistic action.

EXAMPLE 11 The procedure of Examples 3 and 5 were repeated except using, in sequence to prepare a series of formulations, poly(5) ethoxylated myristic monoethanolamide, poly(5) ethoxylated palmitic monopropanolamide, and poly(5) ethoxylated stearic monoethanolamide in place of the poly(5) ethoxylated lauric monoethanolamide component. Corresponding cleaning results were noted which again evidenced synergistic action.

6 EXAMPLE 12 The procedure of Examples 3 and 5 were repeated except sodium Dresinate was substituted by using, in sequence and again preparing a series of formulations, sodium myristic, sodium palmitate, and sodium stearate. Corresponding cleaning results were again noted which evidence synergistic action.

It is understood that the foregoing detailed description is given merely by way of illustration and that various modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A heavy duty cleaning composition consisting essentially of:

(a) from about 35 to about 50 parts by Weight of an alkali metal hydroxide selected from the group consisting of sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide;

(b) from about 5 to about 15 parts by weight of a hydroxycarboxylic acid and the sodium and potassium salts thereof, said hydroxycarboxylic acid being selected from the group consisting of lactic, citric, tartaric, gluconic, arabonic, galactonic, 2-ketogluconic, saccharic, mucic, and glucoheptonic acids;

(c) from about 15 to about 25 parts by weight of an alkali metal carbonate selected from the group consisting of sodium carbonate and potassium carbonate;

(d) from about 10 to about 20 parts by weight of an alkali metal silicate selected from the group consisting of sodium silicate and potassium silicate;

(e) from about 1 to about 3 parts by weight of sodium oleic acid sulfonate;

(f) from about 4 to about 6 parts by weight of a condensate of 5 moles of ethylene oxide with lauric acid mono-ethanol amide;

(g) from about 9 to about 11 parts by weight of sodium salts of tall oil fatty acids; and

(h) from 0 to about 20 parts by Weight of an anticaking agent selected from the group consisting of calcium silicate and finely divided silica gel.

2. The heavy duty composition of claim 1 dissolved in an amount from about '1 to about 20 ounces per gallon of water.

3. The heavy duty composition of claim 1 having from about 4 to about 20 ounces of composition per gallon of water.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,141,882 7/1964 Franz et al. 252385X 2,992,995 7/1961 Arden 252156X FOREIGN PATENTS 863,117 3/1961 Great Britain 252156 OTHER REFERENCES Handbook of Material Trade Names, 1953 Edition, by Zimmerman & Lavine, p. 183.

McCutcheons: Detergents and Emulsifiers 1963 Annual, p. 140.

Alkylolamides in Soft Detergents, by E. A. Knaggs, in Soap and Chemical Specialties, December 1964-January 1965, Reprint, 8 pages.

LEON D. ROSDOL, Primary Examiner D. L. ALBRECHT, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 252137, 138, 156 

